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Character and Personality: Connections between Positive Psychology and Personality Psychology Erik E. Noftle, Sarah A. Schnitker, and Richard W. Robins

in Designing Positive Psychology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward Published in print: 2011 Published Online: May Publisher: Oxford University Press 2011 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195373585 eISBN: 9780199893263 acprof:oso/9780195373585.003.0014 Item type: chapter

This chapter has three central aims. First, it examines the validity of the claim that mainstream psychology has neglected the study of positive character traits and argues that the field of personality psychology has actually led to important advances in the understanding of character traits and their outcomes. Second, it evaluates the Values in Action (VIA) classification of character strengths and summarizes research testing its empirical structure, assessing its overlap with the Big Five trait dimensions and comparing its predictive validity to the Big Five. Third, it suggests ways in which the field of positive psychology can move forward, applying the lessons of nearly a century of personality psychology. Future research needs to address validity concerns, forge links between the character strengths and underlying processes, and pursue large-scale longitudinal studies examining normative development, the efficacy of interventions, and long-term real-world outcomes.

CULTURE, NARRATIVE, AND THE SELF Dan P. McAdams

in The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By Published in print: 2006 Published Online: Publisher: Oxford University Press September 2007 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195176933 eISBN: 9780199786787 acprof:oso/9780195176933.003.0011 Item type: chapter

This chapter places research and theory on the redemptive self into a larger conceptual context that links personality and culture. The redemptive self is a particular kind of life story, and life stories exist Page 1 of 6

as one of three different levels of human personality. At Level 1, dispositional traits (e.g., extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness) sketch out a broad outline of psychological individuality. At Level 2, characteristic adaptations (e.g., motives, goals, strategies, roles, and other socially and temporally contextualized features of personality) fill in the details of psychological individuality. At Level 3, internalized and evolving life stories (e.g., the redemptive self) spell out what a person thinks his or her life means in the overall, providing an understanding of how the person makes meaning and finds coherence in life. Culture has minimal impact on traits, substantially more impact on people's characteristic adaptations, and maximal impact on life stories, in that culture provides individuals with a menu of images, themes, plots, characters, and metaphors for constructing a narrative of the self.

Preference, Personality, and Emotion Peter J. Rentfrow and Jennifer A. Mcdonald

in Handbook of Music and Emotion: Theory, Research, Applications Published in print: 1993 Published Online: Publisher: Oxford University Press March 2012 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780199230143 eISBN: 9780191696435 acprof:oso/9780199230143.003.0024 Item type: chapter

This chapter attempts to shed some light on the notion that music preferences and personality are related. It begins with a brief introduction to studying music preferences and to personality psychology, followed by an overview of contemporary issues in personality psychology and why it is relevant to consider individual differences in music listening. It then provides a review of studies that have connected music genre preferences to personality traits and examines alternative ways of assessing music preferences. The chapter concludes with a thorough discussion of the current gaps in the music and personality literature and suggestions for future research in this emerging sub-field of music psychology.

Then A Miracle Occurs: Focusing on Behavior in Social Psychological Theory and Research

Christopher R. Agnew, Donal E. Carlston, William G. Graziano, and Janice R. Kelly (eds) Published in print: 2009 Published Online: Publisher: Oxford University Press February 2010 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195377798 eISBN: 9780199864522 acprof:oso/9780195377798.001.0001 Item type: book

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The inaugural Purdue Symposium on Psychological Sciences (PSPB) gathered leading thinkers in social psychology to consider theoretical and empirical issues relevant to behavior, across the field and with respect to various subfields of social psychological inquiry. This volume presents the contributions of the PSPS symposium participants. Each contributor highlights theoretical and/or measurement issues about behavior, including how behavior is treated in current social psychological theory and research. The book's coverage of behavior is divided into two overarching sections: (1) behavior and intra-individual processes, including social cognition and individual differences, and (2) behavior and inter-individual processes, including close relationships and group dynamics. Despite the imposed sections, there is significant overlap in issues examined across sections. Focusing attention on a multiplicity of issues surrounding the study of behavior is timely and important. Some scholars believe that, across various sub-disciplines of the field, social psychology has contributed a great deal to our understanding of behavior and its antecedents. From this perspective, there is considerable utility in drawing together such work in one place. Other scholars suggest that, though there has been great progress elucidating the internal cognitive, affective and motivational underpinnings of behavior, much less research focuses on external behavior itself. From this perspective, it is important to identify the theoretical gaps, the empirical needs, and the focal issues that still demand attention. In this volume, we review some of these key issues with contributions from some of the world's leading social and personality psychologists.

Designing Positive Psychology: Taking Stock and Moving Forward Kennon M. Sheldon, Todd B. Kashdan, and Michael F. Steger (eds)

Published in print: 2011 Published Online: May Publisher: Oxford University Press 2011 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195373585 eISBN: 9780199893263 acprof:oso/9780195373585.001.0001 Item type: book

Positive psychology exploded into public consciousness ten years ago and has continued to capture attention around the world ever since. The movement promised to study positive human nature, using only the most rigorous scientific tools and theories. How well has this promise been fulfilled? This book evaluates the first decade of this fledgling field of study from the perspective of nearly every leading researcher in the field. Scholars in the areas of social, personality, clinical, biological, emotional, and applied psychology take stock of their fields, while bearing in mind the original manifesto and goals of the positive psychology movement. Chapters provide honest, critical evaluations of the flaws and untapped potential of these various fields of Page 3 of 6

study. The chapters design the optimal future of positive psychology by addressing gaps, biases, and methodological limitations, and exploring exciting new questions.

Clinical Implications of Implicit Motives

Joel Weinberger, Tanya Cotler, and Daniel Fishman in Implicit Motives Published in print: 2010 Published Online: May Publisher: Oxford University Press 2010 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195335156 eISBN: 9780199776955 acprof:oso/9780195335156.003.0016 Item type: chapter

Those who study implicit motives and those who study clinical psychology are often ignorant of one another’s work. Yet, they have much to offer one another. Satisfying dominant implicit motives results in a sense of well-being. Frustrating them results in unhappiness and even psychopathology. The interaction of explicit motives and implicit motives is also clinically relevant. When they are in harmony, the outcome is usually positive; when they conflict, negative outcomes ensue. Models by Kuhl and by Freud are reviewed to explain these findings. Kuhl’s is shown to have empirical support. Freud’s has not yet been adequately tested. The next focus is on psychotherapeutic treatment. The most clearly established variable underlying successful psychotherapy is the therapeutic relationship. The therapeutic relationship may be partly understood through implicit motivation. It is argued that the oneness motive, an implicit motive revolving around a need to belong to or be part of something larger than the self, partly underlies the therapeutic relationship and its ameliorative effects. The oneness motive is defined and supporting data are reviewed. Special attention is paid to data relating to clinical populations. These results are then applied to the therapeutic relationship.

A Case for Case Studies Daniel M. Ogilvie

in Fantasies of Flight Published in print: 2004 Published Online: April Publisher: Oxford University Press 2010 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195157468 eISBN: 9780199894024 acprof:oso/9780195157468.003.0025 Item type: chapter

This chapter discusses the affiliation of personality psychology with social psychology. It argues that personality psychology is in danger of getting stuck with traits. Trait measurement became personality psychologists' Page 4 of 6

solution to accusations of being artists in the midst of serious scientists. However, there is a finite “amount of truth” to be discovered about the human psyche, and most of those truths may already be known. If that is the case, the remaining days of both social and personality psychology will be played out with researchers trying to find exceptions to general principles and designing research on these specialized topics so as to draw sufficient attention to maintain a dwindling number of careers.

The Shape of a Discipline Daniel M. Ogilvie

in Fantasies of Flight Published in print: 2004 Published Online: April Publisher: Oxford University Press 2010 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195157468 eISBN: 9780199894024 acprof:oso/9780195157468.003.0002 Item type: chapter

This chapter discusses the use of the case study approach in the investigation into flying fantasies. One of the premises of a case study approach is that if one is to understand the inner workings of personality and the various ways they manifest themselves, in-depth studies of individuals, one at a time, from multiple perspectives, is the most prudent path to follow. The antithesis to that position is that case studies, by their very nature, delve into the subjective qualities of a person's life and questions are posed to which no objective answers can be given.

Fantasies of Flight Daniel M. Ogilvie

Published in print: 2004 Published Online: April Publisher: Oxford University Press 2010 DOI: 10.1093/ ISBN: 9780195157468 eISBN: 9780199894024 acprof:oso/9780195157468.001.0001 Item type: book

Fantasies of Flight invigorates the field of personality psychology by challenging the contemporary academic view that individuals are best studied as carriers of traits. The book exchanges a heart-to-heart, case study approach to understanding human behavior for the current strategies of categorizing and comparing individuals according to their manifest traits. Its author asks and endeavors to answer questions like “What were the psychological conditions that led Sir James Barrie to create a character named Peter Pan?” and “What were the dynamics behind the Marshall Herff Applewhite's conviction that a space ship, hiding behind the Hale–Bopp comet, would rescue him and his Heaven's Gate followers after they enacted a mass suicide pact in 1997?” Answering these questions requires the author to resurrect “old” ways of Page 5 of 6

thinking about personality and “old” strategies for studying individuals one by one. Early in the book, the author reviews the history of why intensive case studies were discredited in psychology and describes how Sigmund Freud's psychobiographical account of Leonardo da Vinci's fascination with flight inadvertently abetted critics of psychoanalytic psychology. He then performs a partial psychobiography of James Barrie and the origins of Peter Pan, followed by an investigation of Carl Jung, who fashioned the collective unconscious to serve as humankind's link with eternity. Arguing that personality psychology needs to become less insular, the author integrates information from the disciplines of developmental psychology and neuroscience into a theory regarding the latent needs that both Barrie and Jung sought to satisfy. The theory, including its emphasis on the onset of self and consciousness, is then applied to an array of well-known and obscure individuals with ascensionistic inclinations.

Personalities in a Comparative Perspective: What Do Human Psychologists Glean from Animal Personality Studies? Samuel D. Gosling and Pranjal H. Mehta

in Animal Personalities: Behavior, Physiology, and Evolution Published in print: 2013 Published Online: Publisher: University of Chicago Press September 2013 DOI: 10.7208/ ISBN: 9780226922058 eISBN: 9780226922065 chicago/9780226922065.003.0006 Item type: chapter

This chapter discusses the benefits of animal personality studies for understanding human personality. It first reviews animal personality studies across different species and then illustrates the benefits of taking a comparative perspective in personality research. The chapter also discusses some basic principles for making cross-species comparisons in personality psychology.

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